All these temporary critics have masters degrees with the exception of Merrill, whose reading was nevertheless extensive enough to make his essays on Cavafy, Dante, Ponge, and Bishop more than exercises in pure appreciation.
MoreTHE ISSUE OF THE CLOSET comes and goes in gay life. After lying dormant for at least a decade, it had a brief revival this summer when two Washington…More
… As David Bergman writes movingly in his new “biography” of the VQ, the story of the most famous circle of gay writers of the last generation must be placed within the context of AIDS. …
MoreReaders’ thoughts
MoreTO “LOOK BACK on the history of homosexuality in the West,” writes Louis Crompton in Homosexuality and Civilization, is to view a kaleidoscope of horrors: …
MoreRick Whitaker introduces the essays in his new book, The First Time I Met Frank O’Hara: Reading Gay American Writers, by suggesting that a writer’s sexuality may influence not only what he writes, but also how he writes. While this is nothing new in the realm of literary inquiries, it’s a worthy question and will snag the attention of many readers.
MoreTHE DAY AFTER I gave this talk to the Harvard gay and lesbian alumni/æ group, I was taken to lunch in Dunster House by some undergraduates. After filling our…More
WHILE the World Sleeps is a collection of previously published essays about AIDS from established writers as well as from individuals living with the disease. The range of essays that Chris Bull has assembled underscores the myriad cultural responses that the disease has generated over the last twenty years.
MoreIn 1993, two life-changing events tilted the see-saw of my life from the clouds (a spectacular love affair) to the Slough of Despond (surgery for a non-cancerous brain tumor,…More
